China Insists They Have All the Rights to Ban Any Websites They Choose

Every now and then we hear about yet another site banned in China for covering the world events in a way that is not deemed as an acceptable one by the Chinese government. And today the Chinese foreign ministry has even stated publicly that they believe their country is free to ban whatever sites they choose if the content of such sites is illegal according to the Chinese legislation. And their right to ban such sites certainly means they are not particularly willing to deal with protesters and supporters of the freedom of speech for all.

But the major problem in China is that illegal content can be treated in any manner the government deems appropriate and can include a broad range of topics, starting from mentioning China and Taiwan as two separate countries and on to reporting on Tibet events or criticizing the ruling Communist Party.

As a result of the vast number of issues that can be considered as violating Chinese laws, a number of websites have been blocked from the Chinese citizens since the beginning of December, including the Chinese versions of the BBC, Voice of America and Hong Kong media Ming Pao News and Asiaweek. All these sites remain blocked and the foreign ministry thought the issue (and the public discussions around it) was worth a formal statement: a statement to confirm that they don’t feel any guilt we think they should and they do not intend to change the policy.

At that the Chinese government does not insist that the sites should remain blocked – they should simply comply with the country’s legislation and the non-violating sites will be available to the huge audience of Chinese people again. The choice is quite simple yet a difficult one to make: either you don’t have access to this audience and continue producing content mainly for yourself and for the Chinese Diaspora abroad or you keep some rather straightforward rules observed and are free to operate in the rapidly growing market.

It will be interesting to see what choice the publishers will make in this situation with the Chinese government obviously determined to only allow people play by the Chinese rules – or not play at all. Honestly, I would not want to be a publisher making this decision and choosing between the freedom of speech and the future of my Chinese-language publication and I don’t even know what I would have done in a situation like this myself. What is your opinion?

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